1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of reclaiming styrene and other products from polystyrene-based materials. In particular, the method of the invention reduces the quantity of contaminants formed during depolymerization of the polystyrene in the recovered product.
2. Description of Related Art
In the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,263 (the '263 patent), the statement was made that "some contaminants, such as certain vegetable oils, interfere with satisfactory operation of the invention . . . " (col. 13, lines 13-15). This cited interference arose from the dissociation of the contaminant oils at polystyrene depolymerization temperatures. The resultant contaminants are free fatty acids and possibly orthoxylene, which are difficult, but not impossible, to separate from the desired styrene monomer and styrene oil during fractional distillation after depolymerization. Pure mineral oil was not found to be a problem in the early work.